Australian Wool Research Articles

Fibres on the Field: Jean Shrimpton, Christine Borge and the Promotion of Orlon and Wool at the 1965 Melbourne Cup

For the 1965 Melbourne Cup Carnival, chemical giant DuPont de Nemours Inc. brought English model Jean Shrimpton to Australia to model youth fashion in Orlon, a synthetic fibre marketed as a wool substitute. By contrast, fibre rival, the Australian Wool Board, sponsored French model Christine Borge’s appearance in traditional racewear in wool. Utilising a ‘new materialist’ lens, this article revisits the well-known story of Shrimpton’s Melbourne appearances while highlighting a lesser-known aspect – the performative clash between the models and the fibres that serves as a case study into marketing fibres and styles in 1960s Australia. I argue that cultural and economic forces powerfully melded through novel cross-promotions and sponsorship arrangements between Victoria Racing Club and fibre producers in the service of capitalism. This article also examines marketing’s co-optation of youth culture to promote synthetic fibres and new fashion and to encourage the pursuit of individuality in dress and comportment.

“Well-Dressed” in Suits of Australian Wool: The Global Fiber Wars and Masculine Material Literacy, 1950–1965

The global explosion of synthetic fibers in the mid-twentieth century challenged Australia’s wool industry, demanding new ways of marketing the natural fiber to compete with these so-called modern miracles. The menswear market changed profoundly with the convenience of synthetic fabrics and the excitement that surrounded the power of science embodied in these clothes. Some Australian men turned to the “Your Clothes” feature in Man: The Australian Magazine for Men to understand what being “well-dressed” meant across these years of rapid change. A suit was a key component. Though pure wool had long been the cloth of choice, those made from new synthetics or a blend of wool and artificial fibers proliferated at the time. This article explores the efforts of Man’s fashion columnists to help their readers navigate the changes taking place to textiles across 1950–1965 by developing their material literacy. It further captures how the mid-century fiber wars played out across the pages of the magazine, contributing a distinctly Australian perspective to the global competition for consumers that was shaped by the nation’s pride in its fine wool and its intensifying efforts to combine the fiber’s natural advantages with those of “modern science.”

In “the Finest Australian Wool”: Foy & Gibson’s Healthy, Comfortable, Wool-Clad Bodies, 1900–1939

ABSTRACT From the late 19th century, when the Melbourne manufacturer and department store Foy & Gibson began to produce mail order catalogues for country customers, it recognised the potential to sell clothing made of Australian wool. This article explores how Foy & Gibson influenced consumer attitudes towards the natural fibre by encouraging them to feel wool as a next-to-the-skin experience. By focusing on underwear and swimsuits in the catalogues across the first three decades of the 20th century, it offers a historical counterpoint to promotional activities that continue into the present urging consumers to understand the benefits of wearing wool.

#Instawool: Wool Narratives of Sustainability on Instagram

Wool consumption is at its lowest since the 1950s: a 2021 Textile Exchange report states that wool accounts for only 1% of the world’s global fibre market. Despite the low uptake of wool, an interest in natural fibres has recently emerged due to the increased awareness of textile waste causing environmental pollution and loss of biodiversity as the result of a linear and delocalised economy. The aim of this paper is to identify the type of content used by global wool stakeholders to promote wool on social media (Instagram) and how it interacts with contemporary issues in sustainability. An ensuing question is whether the narrative emerging is supporting the expansion of wool consumption. A mixed method was used to gather data about the marketing of wool on Instagram using authoritative national and international wool stakeholders such as the Australian Wool Innovation, Woolmark, Campaign for Wool, British Wool, the International Wool Textile Organisation and New Zealand Merino Co. This study provides a novel account of the interplay between wool, as a primary industry product, and fashion and how their intersections generate content, representation, and ideas on digital media. The study found that wool is presented to consumers as the fibre of choice. To various degrees, all six stakeholders support a sustainability narrative based on the intrinsic qualities of wool as a natural fibre, from its biodegradability to its ability to recycle atmospheric carbon. Material qualities are represented through images and texts referring to wool’s softness, warmth and its versatility as high-performance clothing for a variety of uses, and as an insulating material. Images of sheep, lambs and ewes are posted to create emotional responses toward wool.

Chemical residue trends for Australian and New Zealand wool

Textile consumer trends towards improved product safety and high environmental standards have significantly influenced regulators in key consumer markets. The apparel wool industry sector has responded to regulators, and for three decades the Australia and New Zealand wool industries have managed advancements in ectoparasiticides and improved sheep treatments targeting high environmental, animal health and welfare standards leading to safe wool products. Australian and New Zealand chemical residue data from greasy wool have been consolidated and analysed for organophosphate, synthetic pyrethroid, insect growth regulator, neonicotinoid, macrocyclic lactone and spinosad active. Trend analysis has been applied to time domain data to evaluate advancements in ectoparasiticide technology after revising environmental, animal health and welfare standards. Analysis shows impacts from technology improvement, regulatory change and compliance by sheep farmers meeting or exceeding published European Union residue limits for regulated ectoparasiticides namely organochlorine, organophosphate, synthetic pyrethroid and insect growth regulators. Implications from advancements in ectoparasiticide technology, industry management and regulatory measures, include healthy sheep growing in clean pastoral environments with evidence of reduced wool residue levels which complement high and rising proportions of Australian and New Zealand wool fibre meeting European Union Ecolabel criteria.

Maternal lysine, methionine and choline supplementation in twin-bearing Merino ewes during mid-to-late gestation does not alter pregnancy outcomes or progeny growth and survival

High twin lamb mortality in Merino sheep is a major cost for the Australian wool and sheep meat industry. Most lambs die within three days of birth due to low birthweight and/or complications arising during parturition. Maternal arginine supplementation can potentially increase birthweight by improving utero-placental haemodynamics; but availability and cost of rumen-protected arginine are barriers. Therefore, we sought to increase circulating concentrations of arginine, lamb birthweight and survival by supplementing twin-bearing Merino ewes with lysine, methionine and choline from day 80 of gestation (dG 80) to parturition. Each day, ewes were individually fed a supplement (barley, pea, pollard and molasses) with addition of either 14 g lysine, 7 g methionine and 7 g choline (amino acid; AA; n = 48); or no amino acids (control; CTL; n = 48). Supplementation did not alter circulating amino acid profiles in ewes at dG 120. Parturition difficulty of ewes and meconium staining of lambs did not differ between AA and CTL groups. Rectal temperatures during the first 24 h of life and serum IgG concentrations (indicative of colostrum intake) at 24 h after birth were similar in lambs born to AA and CTL ewes. AA supplementation did not alter lamb weights from birth to weaning (~three months of age), or lamb survival to weaning (CTL: 75%; AA: 84.8%, P > 0.05). The lack of response to maternal supplementation with this combination of rumen-protected lysine, methionine and choline suggests that alternate strategies are needed to increase maternal arginine abundance and twin lamb survival.

Australian surveys on parasite control in sheep between 2003 and 2019 reveal marked regional variation and increasing utilisation of online resources and on-farm biosecurity practices.

Australian Wool Innovation Limited (AWI) commissioned three cross-sectional surveys of sheep producers' sheep parasite control practices over a 15-year period from 2003 to 2018. The aims were to document current sheep parasite incidence and control practices, to measure change in sheep parasite control practices over time and to inform extension messages for sheep industry advisors and sheep farmers. The surveys were conducted in 2004, 2012 and 2019 measuring sheep parasite control practices in the years 2003, 2011 and 2018. The surveys focused on incidence and control of the three major sheep parasite groups; gastrointestinal nematodes, blowflies and lice. The 2003 and 2011 surveys were paper-based and the 2018 survey was accessed via a link to an online survey. This article is the first in a series of four presenting the results of the three surveys and will cover methods, demographics, production systems and general parasite management. Response rates to the surveys declined each year from the peak response rate in 2003 (n = 1365 in 2003; n = 575 in 2011 and n = 354 in 2018). Mean reported rainfall was significantly lower in 2018 (407 mm) than in 2003 (611 mm) and 2011 (650 mm). The demographics of the respondents and their production systems were largely similar between the three surveys for respondent age, median property size, income from wool and sheep meat, proportion of the property area cropped, median sheep dry sheep equivalent (DSEs), ewes as a proportion of the total flock and median cattle DSEs. Month of weaning was more likely to be in summer months for summer dominant rainfall areas and spring for intermediate and winter dominant rainfall areas. There was a marked increase in the proportion of respondents asking for an animal health history when introducing sheep to their flock from 2011 (9%) to 2018 (65%). Similarly, a greater proportion of respondents isolated introduced sheep for at least 2 weeks in 2018 (82%) compared with 2011 (19%). However, there was a decrease in the use of a quarantine lice treatment for introduced sheep from 2011 (50%) to 2018 (21%). Farmers rated themselves, other farmers or member of their staff as most important sources of information on parasite control in both 2011 and 2018. There was a significant increase in the proportion of respondents visiting the ParaBoss suite of websites from 2011 to 2018 confirming their growing importance for information delivery and decision support.

Stability Analysis of Australia’s Wool Exports- A Markov Chain Model

The present study is an attempt to analyse growth, instability and direction of trade of wool exports from Australia. Compound Annual Growth Rate, Cuddy-Della Valle Index and Markov chain analysis are the tools used for analysing data from 2008 to 2017. The growth rate of export in terms of quantity is negative and very low (-0.59% per annum) and the growth rate of exports in terms of value is positive (3.99% per annum). The instability index is low (2.78%) for exports in quantity terms and is medium (18.10%) for exports in value terms. China is the most stable market for export of wool from Australia with retention probability of 80.08%. The other reliable importers are Republic of Korea and Czech Republic. The study suggested the need to diversify Australian wool market.

Where Can Objects Take You? The Case of the World War II Japanese Airman's Suit

“Dad always said that ‘It’s made out of Australian wool,’ and I thought that was just a joke because you couldn’t see how the Japanese would get hold of Australian wool during the war…. But it is a fine material…. They weren’t scrapping for something to wear.” —Wally Lanagan In December 1942, the Yokosuka Military Department manufactured, surely among hundreds of others, a flying suit, which may or may not have ever been worn by a Japanese pilot. It did, however, end up on display at the Pioneer Park Museum in Dalby, a small town in rural Queensland, Australia. It was lent to the museum in the early 2000s by the nephew of the Australian soldier who brought it home as a souvenir at the end of World War II. There it rested, until the authors noticed it in May 2019. Through the dusty glass of the display the suit had an odd sheen—was it wool? cotton? A blend? An inquiry to the caretaker led to unlocking the case, and the discovery that the fabric was indeed a blend—but of rayon and wool. Another inquiry led to the lender, and the intriguing story of its arrival in Dalby and its place in a complex family history. And to the quotation at the top of this page…. And thence to the National Archives of Australia, to search the records of the textile trade between Australia and Japan in the years between the two world wars. This paper highlights a digital media interactive that melds a 3-D scan of the suit with relevant documents, images, and text. It explores how this one garment embodies both decades of international bickering over resources, natural and man-made, and a transitional moment in the fabrics of war.

Substantial genetic gains in reducing breech flystrike and in improving productivity traits are achievable in Merino sheep by using index selection

Context The availability of effective indirect rather than direct selection criteria for genetically reducing breech flystrike is crucial for the Australian wool industry, as expression of breech flystrike is routinely suppressed by management interventions to minimise the risks to sheep health, welfare and productivity. Understanding how much genetic gain can be made in reducing breech strike, while also selecting for other key traits is important in choosing breeding objectives, particularly for Merino genetic improvement programs. Aims We predicted genetic gains from within-flock selection to reduce breech flystrike incidence (FS) and improve productivity under a range of scenarios that all used indirect selection criteria in the genetic evaluation of FS. Methods Three breeding objectives were modelled, by adding FS as a trait to the breeding objective for the Dual Purpose Plus (DP+), Fibre Production Plus (FP+) and Merino Production Plus (MP+) indexes available from MERINOSELECT. A large range of economic values were examined for FS, from 0 to –$240/strike.sheep per year in $20 increments. For all scenarios, full records of productivity traits and pedigree information were assumed to be available for use as selection criteria, as well as records of breech wrinkle, dag and breech cover scores. Predictions were conducted for scenarios assuming (a) moderate heritability for FS (b) low heritability for FS, and (c) low heritability for FS, but higher heritability for dag score than assumed for scenarios (a) and (b). Key results After 10 years of selection, under assumption (a) predicted genetic gains in FS ranged from 0, up to maximum reductions of 0.19, 0.21, and 0.20/strike.sheep per year from use of the FP+FS, MP+FS and DP+FS indexes, respectively. Under assumption (b) predictions of genetic gain for FS were considerably lower and ranged from 0 to maximum reductions of 0.04, 0.06 and 0.06/strike.sheep per year based on use of FP+FS, MP+FS and DP+FS indexes, respectively. Under assumption (c), predicted genetic gains in FS were very similar to those under assumption (b). When 70% of the maximum gains in FS studied were targeted, from 70% to 93% of genetic gains in the overall index (excluding FS) were predicted to be retained when FS had moderate heritability, and from 85% to 95% when FS had low heritability. Conclusions and implications There is a practical range of economic values for FS (from –$60 to –$80/strike.sheep per year for MP+FS and DP+FS indexes and –$60 to –$140/strike.sheep per year for a FP+FS index when the heritability of FS is moderate and –$100 to –$200/strike.sheep per year for a MP+FS index and –$140 to –$240/strike.sheep per year for FP+FS and DP+FS indexes when the heritability of FS is low), that could be used in breeding programs to genetically reduce FS, while retaining competitive levels of genetic gains for other important traits. Reduction of FS is achievable to low levels, after 10–20 years of index selection, similar to levels achieved by mulesing (0.01/strike.sheep per year in average seasonal conditions).

From Sheep to Chic: Reframing the Australian Wool Story

ABSTRACTBetween 1946 and 1974, the Australian Wool Board (AWB) increased its wool promotion in an attempt to maintain its leading role in Australia's economic development. Promotional activities of the AWB, and the screening of commercially produced newsreels and documentaries in cinemas, used fashion to foster a new value and understanding of wool. These marketing activities, mainly independent from each other, presented a unified image of wool and fashion. This article proposes that the recasting of Australian wool's cultural heritage in images of fashion parades of wool garments contributed to the continuity of its cultural tradition while integrating fashion as a modern value within national culture and identity. The article examines 14 newsreels screened in Australian cinemas between 1946 and 1974 to establish the connection between Australian national identity and wool via the reinvention of the wool narrative.

Quotidian Routines: The Cooperative Practices of a Business Elite

Cooperative corporate behavior has often been explained through the social anatomy of business leaders and structural ties among firms. Our alternative approach investigates how quotidian interactions built trust and routines among a group of major firms in the Australian wool trade—a sector that required regular interaction to be effective. Deploying extensive archives of their meetings, we use social network analysis to examine interactions among the key group of firms and individuals. Through content analysis we infer the behavior and atmosphere of meetings. Finally, an evaluation of meeting agendas and outcomes demonstrates cooperation and a shared commitment to improving the operation of the wool trade in the 1920s.

Tensile and Frictional Properties of Wool-Cotton Union Khadi Fabrics

ABSTRACT This paper describes the tensile and frictional behavior of wool-cotton union fabrics developed using different wool-cotton blended warp yarns, and mixed wool weft yarns spun on khadi spinning system. The tenacity and elongation at break of fabric increase with the blending of cotton with JK crossbred wool in the warp direction and high content of Australian merino wool in the weft direction, however, initial modulus decreases. The static and dynamic coefficient of friction positively correlates to the wool content in warp yarn and negatively correlates with linear density and the proportion of Australian merino wool in weft yarn.

Australian Wool and Chinese Industrialization, 1901–1941

Australian Wool and Chinese Industrialization, 1901–1941

Tensile strength prediction of irregular fibres using diameter-dependent Weibull analysis

A modified Weibull model incorporating the within-fibre diameter variation is applied to examine the fibre diameter effect on the strength of single fibres. Australian Superfine Merino Wool (ASFW) and Inner Mongolia Cashmere (IMC) were used in the present work, since these animal fibres tend to have relatively large diameter variations. To determine single fibre strength, tensile measurements were carried out for fibres with diameters varying between 9 and 21 μm at a constant gauge length. It was found that an increase in the diameter disparity along the fibre reduces the strength of fibres. To validate this, the accuracy of predicting weak-link scaling was evaluated; the results showed that the application of modified Weibull distribution gives a better relationship with the empirical data than the standard Weibull model. The results suggest that the modified Weibull model is more accurate in predicting the size dependence and strength of single fibres with diameter variations.

Australian Women in Advertising in the Nineteenth Century by Jackie Dickenson (review)

Reviewed by: Australian Women in Advertising in the Nineteenth Century by Jackie Dickenson Cheryl Williams (bio) Dickenson, Jackie. Australian Women in Advertising in the Nineteenth Century. Backingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Joy Jobbins, mother of five, and former fashion model turned PR executive for the Australian Wool Board aptly captures the predicament common to women juggling an advertising career and family life with her simple statement: “There are many lost years as a mother that the Wool Board owes me” (114). While these words ring true for many women in the industry today, Jobbins was reflecting on a career that spanned the 1950s and 1960s. Jobbins’ predicament was not unique. Popular television series such as Mad Men generally depict male-saturated advertising agencies, but Dickenson’s Australian Women in Advertising in the Nineteenth Century brings to light countless women, such as Jobbins, who forged successful careers in advertising, promotion, public relations, and other creative industries in Australia throughout the nineteenth century. Dickenson’s text extends Robert Crawford’s initial exploration of Australian women working in advertising in his book But Wait, There’s More…(2008). Unlike Crawford’s text, the reader will find very few examples of specific advertisements or references to particular campaigns. Dickenson repositions the lens away from advertisements themselves and towards the women who worked their way into the industry and rose to positions of leadership and prominence. Dickenson combs magazines, trade journals, newspapers, speeches, and novels to piece together a portrait of the lives of several early female leaders ranging from Clara Behrend, who leveraged her national success in Australia to globally promote women’s advancement in business, to Elma Kelly, who built an advertising empire stretching from Hong Kong to Singapore. The book reads as a series of vignettes highlighting the career paths of key women and their contributions to professional organizations, politics, philanthropy, and feminist campaigns. The research is primarily historical in nature and does not explore the full sociocultural context that some readers of this journal might expect. The discussion stops short at times, and its significance is left up to the reader to determine. A particularly interesting theme emerges, however, as Dickenson observes how businesswomen negotiated the complexities of existing in a “man’s world” while embracing their femininity and furthering the position of women in Australian society. Often these goals were contradictory and women functioned as liminal subjects with unclear boundaries, passing feely between the domains of family/work, femininity/feminism, and consumerism/communism. Women either emphasized or denied their gender differences depending on whether it was advantageous to do so. They justified their existence in the industry by claiming to understand the coveted female consumer, while pushing against critics who claimed their natural position as consumers precluded their suitability for work as producers and advertisers. While using their femininity to their advantage, the same female leaders actively worked to abolish gender differences in industry and politics. Another contradiction emerges when examining the female experts who hawked national brands to housewives and used their earnings to bankroll leftist pursuits that critiqued excessive commercialism and the very consumer culture they publicly promoted. Lorraine Salmon, for example, parlayed her skills as a celebrity home economist to further her political pursuits within the Communist Party of Australia. Often, advertising historians find that the modern definition of “advertising” proves too narrow to encapsulate the abundance, variety, and creativity of promotional activities in the early period. Dickenson offers a solution worthy of more extensive elaboration that could contribute to methodological practices within the field. She extends the concept of advertising in the early twentieth century to also include retail promotions, philanthropy, public relations, journalism, and other creative industries that were clearly intended to sell products and services. Scholars researching advertising to marginalized groups such as children, immigrants, and minorities may find that employing Dickenson’s broader definition greatly expands the volume of historical sources available for study and more accurately represents the promotional landscape of the period. Serious issues that likely plagued the average woman working in advertising are, in my view, underserved by this text. Dickenson does not elaborate on the pay gap between women and their male cohorts other than to report that pay was...

Too Big to Fail: Explaining the Timing and Nature of Intervention in the Australian Wool Market, 1916–1991

From the early twentieth century, many Australian farm products have had their prices set by some form of intervention, often administered by a statutory marketing board. Wool was different: intervention, other than war‐related exigencies, came much later and in a different mechanism, a reserve price scheme (hereafter RPS). The RPS that operated from 1970 until its collapse in 1991 has been roundly criticised. Four key elements explain the belated emergence and particular form of price controls: the specific characteristics of wool — its importance to the economy, its export orientation, and its non‐perishability; the shifting locus of economic and political power in favour of small farmers; the declining influence of the wool‐selling brokers and their associations; and the rise of statutory bodies and their capture by key figures supporting increased government participation.

Resource use and greenhouse gas emissions from three wool production regions in Australia

Australia is the largest supplier of fine apparel wool in the world, produced from diverse sheep production systems. To date, broad scale analyses of the environmental credentials of Australian wool have not used detailed farm-scale data, resulting in a knowledge gap regarding the performance of this product. This study is the first multiple impact life cycle assessment (LCA) investigation of three wool types, produced in three geographically defined regions of Australia: the high rainfall zone located in New South Wales (NSW HRZ) producing super-fine Merino wool, the Western Australian wheat-sheep zone (WA WSZ) producing fine Merino wool, and the southern pastoral zone (SA SPZ) of central South Australia, producing medium Merino wool. Inventory data were collected from both case study farms and regional datasets. Life cycle inventory and impact assessment methods were applied to determine resource use (energy and water use, and land occupation) and GHG emissions, including emissions and removal associated with land use (LU) and direct land use change (dLUC). Land occupation was divided into use of arable and non-arable land resources. A comparison of biophysical allocation and system expansion methods for handling co-production of greasy wool and live weight (for meat) was included.Based on the regional analysis results, GHG emissions (excluding LU and dLUC) were 20.1 ± 3.1 (WA WSZ, mean ± 2 S.D) to 21.3 ± 3.4 kg CO2-e/kg wool in the NSW HRZ, with no significant difference between regions or wool type. Accounting for LU and dLUC emissions and removals resulted in either very modest increases in emissions (0.3%) or reduced net emissions by 0–11% depending on pasture management and revegetation activities, though a higher degree of uncertainty was observed in these results. Fossil fuel energy demand ranged from 12.5 ± 4.1 in the SA SPZ to 22.5 ± 6.2 MJ/kg wool (WA WSZ) in response to differences in grazing intensity. Fresh water consumption ranged from 204.3 ± 59.1 in the NSW HRZ to 393.7 ± 123.8 L/kg wool in the WA WSZ, with differences primarily relating to climate. Stress-weighted water use ranged from 11.0 ± 3.0 (SA SPZ) to 74.6 ± 119.5 L H2O-e/kg wool (NSW HRZ) and followed an opposite trend to water consumption in response to the different levels of water stress across the regions. Non-arable grazing land was found to range from 55% to almost 100% of total land occupation. Different methods for handling co-production of greasy wool and live weight changed estimated total GHG emissions by a factor of three, highlighting the sensitivity to this methodological choice and the significance of meat production in the wool supply chain. The results presented improve the understanding of environmental impacts and resource use in these wool production regions as a basis for more detailed full supply chain analysis.

Obituary

Dr Geoffrey (Geoff) Lee Miller, AO, FAICD, MAIAS, was born 26 January 1942, in Grafton, and died on 10 October 2014 in Bellingen, NSW. He lived his too short life to the full and well. It is said, that when a boy his interest in raising bantams and growing lettuce convinced his father to send him to Farrer Agricultural High School in Tamworth. Geoff was to go on to be awarded First Class Honours in a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics degree from the University of New England, Armidale. He was later awarded an MA and a PhD in Applied Economics from the Food Research Institute, Stanford University, USA. He had a powerful mind and a persuasive manner. During his life in the Australian Public Service (APS) Geoff was a member of ten government boards, councils and task forces, such as the Australian Wheat Board, the Australian Wool Corporation and the Cabinet's Task Force on Long Term Economic Growth. His professional expertise was in the field of applied industry economics, which had been reflected in his academic studies and achievements. His career highlights were many, including Director of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics (BAE), 1977–1981; Director of the Economic Planning Advisory Council, 1983-86; Secretary of Department of Primary Industry, 1986–87 and Secretary of the Department of Primary Industries and Energy 1988–93. He was named Man of the Year in Australian Agriculture in 1978. Over his career Geoff was responsible for an enormous amount of agricultural reform and restructuring. Through the 1980s and into the 1990s all Commonwealth agricultural commodity statutory marketing authorities were reformed, (including two wheat plans), as were agricultural research and development arrangements and expenditure by way of corporatisation, to put them on a more secure funding basis. Major policy changes were carried out in meat, dairy, wool and horticultural policy. The National Disaster Relief Arrangements for drought were changed and the Rural Adjustment Scheme was adapted to meet the farm adjustment needs of the day. Accent was placed on fisheries management, Australia wide, following the signing of the Offshore Constitutional Settlement, prior to the formation of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority. More attention was paid to the social dimension of rural as well as agricultural Australia, including the establishment of the Rural Counselling Service, the funding of Rural Women's Access Grants and Farmsafe. The importance of trade reform was highlighted under Geoff's leadership, as was the need to adapt to the needs of the customers of Australia's commodity exports. Other institutional change included the establishment of the Bureau of Rural Resources and the Australian Registration Authority (now AVPMA) for the registration of agricultural and veterinary chemicals. Also, Plant Variety Rights were introduced. The portfolio was active in fisheries, land water and forest management with the introduction of a National Soil Conservation Programme, (followed by Landcare), a National Forest Policy, the National Resource Information Centre and early progress on water reforms. On retiring from the APS in 1994 Geoff Miller applied his experience and depth of understanding through a range of appointments in Australian business and statutory authorities and in international institutions. Before this he had already been a member of the Policy Advisory Council, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, 1982-83 and had chaired OECD's Committee on Commodity markets, based in Paris. In 1998-2003 he chaired the Food and Agribusiness Investment Fund of Gresham Rabo Management Ltd. He chaired the Trade and Economic Sessions of the International Forum on the Indian Ocean in 1995. He chaired the International Food Policy Research Institute, based in Washington D.C., 1997–2003, probably his most prestigious international agricultural leadership role. Geoff was a warm, loving, considerate man with a great sense of humour. Geoff first married Helen, nee Elliott, in 1964, and they had three children: Astrid, Ben and Andrew. Helen passed away in 1977. Geoff and Cynthia were married in 1983 – Cynthia being the mother of Nick and Kate and who became part of the melded family.

Do price premiums for wool characteristics vary for different end products, processing routes and fibre diameter categories?

No Australian wool price hedonic studies have separated auction data into different end product-processing groups (PPR) on the basis of all fibre attributes that affect the suitability of wool sale lots for PPR. This study was conducted to assess: (1) whether including information about PPR groupings is more useful in understanding price than clustering by broad fibre diameter (FD) categories, and (2) if the ‘noise’ of macroeconomic effects on price can be reduced by using a clean price relative to the market indicator (RelPrice) formula or a log RelPrice formula compared with log price or clean price. Hedonic models using data derived from 369 918 Australian auction sale lots in 2010–2011 were estimated for these four dependent price variables. Linear FD models predicted less of price’s variance than quadratic or exponential models. Segmenting wool sale lots into 10 PPR before wool price analyses was found to increase the proportion of price variance explained and thus be worthwhile. The change in price with a change in FD, staple length and staple strength differs significantly between PPR. Calculating RelPrice or log RelPrice appears a better price parameter than clean price or log price. Comparing the RelPrice and clean price models, the mean absolute percentage errors were 6.3% and 16.2%, respectively. The differences in price sensitivity to FD, staple length and staple strength across PPR implies a complex set of price-setting mechanisms for wool as different users place different values on these wool properties. These price-setting mechanisms need to be incorporated in hedonic models for agricultural products that possess this characteristic. The wool price premiums can be used to estimate relative economic values when constructing sheep breeding selection indexes and can help determine the most profitable wool clip preparation strategies.